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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

DIVISION II
STATE OF WASHINGTON,
Respondent,

No. 42890 -3 - II

V.

JOHNNY MICHAEL GARCIA,

PUBLISHED OPINION

MAXA, J.

Johnny Garcia appeals his convictions for first degree assault, first degree

unlawful possession of a firearm, and unlawful possession of a controlled substance. At trial, he

stipulated that he had committed a " serious offense" for purposes of the unlawful possession of a

firearm charge to prevent the State from introducing evidence of his prior first degree robbery conviction. However, the jury instructions inadvertently included an instruction stating that the

jury had to find that Garcia committed first degree robbery in order to convict on the first degree
unlawful possession of a firearm charge. The trial court replaced the erroneous instruction and

instructed the jury to disregard it. The trial court then denied Garcia' s motion for a mistrial. On
appeal, Garcia argues that ( 1) the trial court abused its discretion in denying his mistrial motion,
2) the trial court improperly admitted " gang" evidence and the cumulative effect of this
evidence and the erroneous instruction deprived him of his right to a fair trial, and ( 3) on remand
we should appoint

different

counsel

because trial

counsel was

ineffective.

No. 42890 -3 - II

We hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it denied Garcia' s mistrial

motion because the jury' s temporary exposure to the improper instruction was not such a serious
trial irregularity that it could not be cured by an instruction to disregard. We also hold that
Garcia' s gang evidence and cumulative error claims fail because he failed to preserve for review his challenge to the gang evidence. And because we do not remand, we do not address Garcia' s
request to appoint new trial counsel. Accordingly, we affirm Garcia' s convictions.
FACTS

On April 23, 2011, Mark McCloud, his cousin Tara McCloud Shanta, and his friend

Phillip Noel were in the garage behind a friend' s house. Garcia arrived at the garage and argued
with Shanta. McCloud and Garcia also began to argue. Garcia shot McCloud in the abdomen and arm, and then fled.

Shortly after the shooting, Noel identified Garcia from a photo montage. Tacoma Police
Department officers later. located Garcia and arrested him. During a search incident to arrest, the
officers discovered methamphetamine in Garcia' s pants pocket. The State charged Garcia with

first degree assault under RCW 9A.36. 01 l( 1)( a), first degree unlawful possession of a firearm
under

RCW 9. 41. 040( 1)( a), and unlawful possession of methamphetamine under RCW

69. 50. 4013( 1).

At trial, part of the State' s burden on the firearm charge was to prove that Garcia
previously had been
convicted of

a"

serious offense."

To satisfy this burden, the State sought to

admit Garcia' s judgment and sentence for a prior first degree robbery conviction. Garcia
objected and offered to stipulate that he had committed a serious offense without revealing that

the offense was first degree robbery. The trial court accepted the stipulation and instructed the
jam':
2

No. 42890 -3 - II

This is

The parties have agreed that the following evidence will be presented to .you: As of April 23rd, 2011, the defendant, Johnny
a stipulation of

the

parties.

Michael Garcia, had previously been convicted of a crime that is a serious offense
and that makes him ineligible to possess a firearm as is required to be proven

beyond a reasonable doubt by the State of Washington as an element of Count II,

Unlawful Possession
of a

Firearm in the First Degree.

This is evidence that you

will evaluate and weigh with all the other evidence.

7 Report of Proceedings ( RP) at 62 -63.

During

trial, three

witnesses mentioned

the

word "

gang."

A Puyallup Tribal Police

Department officer said that when he was dispatched in response to Noel' s 911 call, he " knew
that there
was a garage

behind the house

at

2218 East 32nd that'

s a

known gang hangout."

1 RP

at 77. A Tacoma Police Department officer who arrived at the scene of Garcia' s arrest testified
that he
was a part of "[t] he

gang

unit."

4 RP at 7. Another Tacoma Police Department officer

testified that on the evening of Garcia' s arrest, he " was requested to meet with our gang unit
officers

regarding the

operation

they

were

involved

with."

6 RP at 63. And during closing

d[ id] the
gangster shoot."

argument,

the State told the

jury

that Garcia " pull[ ed]

out a gun and

RP at 9.

Before closing argument, the trial court asked counsel if there were any objections to the

jury instructions. Neither the State nor defense counsel objected to the proposed instructions,
and the trial court distributed copies of its instructions to the jury. The trial court then read the
instructions.. Instruction 20, the " to convict" instruction for the first degree unlawful possession
of a firearm charge, read as follows:

To convict the defendant of the crime of unlawful possession of a firearm

in the first degree, as charged in Count II, each of the following elements of the
crime must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt:

1) That on or about the 23rd day of April, 2011, the defendant knowingly
had a firearm in his possession or control;

2) That the defendant had previously been convicted of Robbery in the

First Degree,
a serious offense; and

No. 42890 -3 -II

3) That the possession or control of the firearm occurred in the State of

Washington. Clerk' Papers ( CP)
202 ( emphasis

at

added).

Apparently neither the trial court nor counsel had

noticed that the instruction specifically referenced first degree robbery as a " serious offense"

despite Garcia' s stipulation. 1

During closing argument, the State projected an image of instruction 20 for the jury to

view. Despite what the instruction stated, the State did not mention robbery and told the jury
that it
needed

to find that Garcia had " been

convicted of a prior serious offense."

8 RP at 16.

After finishing closing argument, the State informed the trial court that instruction 20 was

incorrect and asked that the court amend it to state " a serious offense" instead of "Robbery in the
First Degree."

8 RP at 21 -22. The State also told the trial court that it had noticed the incorrect

instruction and had tried to " sanitize [ the mistake] in the midst of the argument by using the
other statutory language and then pulling it off the overhead as quickly as I could without
looking too
either." obvious about

it." 8 RP at 22. Defense counsel said that he " didn' t catch this

8 RP at 22. The parties agreed to replace the jury' s copy of instruction 20 with the

proper instruction.

The trial court also determined that it had read the incorrect version of this instruction to

the jury. Accordingly, the parties agreed that in addition to providing the jury with a corrected

copy of the instruction, the trial court would read the proper instruction to the jury and inform the
jury that it "misspoke" the first time it read the instruction. 8 RP at 25.

1 The State explained that the version of instruction 20 submitted to the trial court had been
drafted before Garcia stipulated that he had been convicted of a serious offense. The State did

not amend the instruction after the trial court accepted the stipulation, and defense counsel did

not object to the instruction as the State originally submitted it.

11

No. 42890 -3 -II

When the trial court collected the incorrect copies of instruction 20 from the jury, it
noticed that one juror had placed a star next to " Robbery" and another juror had underlined

Robbery" and placed a question mark next to that portion of the instruction. Garcia then moved
for a mistrial. Garcia noted that the State also had projected the incorrect instruction " for several
minutes,"

to which the State responded,

I don' t know that we actually had several minutes. Basically, I looked up, saw the error, [ and] as soon as I saw that I tried to engage the jury with eye contact to divert them away from it and tried as gracefully as possible to remove that from the overhead. But it certainly was on the overhead long enough to look up and see the robbery words on the instruction.
8 RP at 29 -30. The trial court denied the mistrial motion.

The trial court gave the jury corrected copies of instruction 20, reread the correct version
of the instruction to the jury, and stated,

During closing argument, the Court realized that instruction 20 concerning

Count II, the charge of Unlawful Possession of a Firearm in the First Degree, was
the wrong instruction

for this

case.

You have now been given the correct

instruction 20 concerning Count II. You should disregard the previous instruction
20. 8RPat33.

The jury convicted Garcia on all counts, and he appeals.

ANALYSIS I. MISTRIAL MOTION

Garcia stipulated that he had been convicted of a " serious offense" in order to prevent the

jury from hearing evidence that he had been convicted of first degree robbery. Nevertheless, the jury temporarily was exposed to an instruction stating that in order to convict, it had to find that
Garcia was convicted of first degree robbery. Garcia argues that the trial court abused its

discretion in denying his mistrial motion based on this improper instruction. We disagree.
5

No. 42890 -3 -II

Temporarily exposing the jury to an improper jury instruction was not such a serious irregularity that it could not be cured with a limiting instruction, and the trial court instructed the jury to
disregard the instruction because it was the wrong instruction for this case.
A. Standard of Review

We review a trial court' s denial of a mistrial for abuse of discretion. State v. Emery, 174
Wn.2d 741, 765, 278 P. 3d 653 ( 2012). Our Supreme Court has stated that abuse of discretion

will

be found for

denial

of a mistrial

only
at

when " `

no reasonable judge would have reached the

quotation marks omitted) (

same conclusion.' "

Emery,

174 Wn.2d

765 ( internal

quoting State

v.

Hopson, 113 Wn.2d 273, 284, 778 P. 2d 1014 ( 1989)).

A trial court' s denial of a mistrial

motion will be overturned only when there is a substantial likelihood that the error affected the
jury' s
verdict.

State

v.

Rodriguez, 146 Wn.2d 260, 269 -70, 45 P. 3d 541 ( 2002). A mistrial

should

be

ordered " `

only when the defendant has been so prejudiced that nothing short of a new
will

trial

can

insure that the defendant

be tried

fairly.' " Rodriguez, 146 Wn.2d at 270 ( quoting

State v. Mak, 105 Wn.2d 692, 701, 718 P. 2d 407 ( 1986)).

B. We

Hopson Factors
examine

three

factors the Hopson factors when

1) its
seriousness; (

determining whether an

irregularity

warrants a mistrial: " `(

2) whether it involved cumulative

evidence; and (

3)

whether

the trial

court

properly instructed the

jury to

disregard it.' "

Emery,

174 Wn.2d

at

765 ( quoting Hopson, 113 Wn.2d

at

284). These factors are considered with

deference to the trial court, State v. Perez -Valdez, 172 Wn.2d 808, 818, 265 P. 3d 853 ( 2011),
because the trial court is in the best position to discern prejudice. State v. Lewis, 130 Wn.2d 700,

707, 927 P. 2d 235 ( 1996).

ON

No. 42890 -3 -II

1.

Seriousness of the Irregularity

seriousness of

The first Hopson factor is the

the

irregularity.

113 Wn.2d at 284. The

question is whether the irregularity was " serious enough to materially affect the outcome of the
trial."

Hopson, 113 Wn.2d at 286.

a.

Old ChiefRule

The starting point in assessing the irregularity in this case is the United States Supreme
Court' s decision in Old Chiefv. United States, 519 U. S. 172, 117 S. Ct. 644, 136 L. Ed. 2d 574
1997).

In Old Chief, the defendant offered to stipulate to a qualifying conviction, but over his

objection the trial court allowed the State to present evidence that the conviction was for an

assault that had caused serious bodily injury and that the defendant had been sentenced to five
years in prison. 519 U. S. at 174 -77. The Court held that if a defendant stipulates that he has a

prior felony conviction for purposes of an unlawful possession of firearm charge, the trial court
cannot allow the State to introduce into evidence the details of the conviction and punishment.

Old Chief, 519 U.S. at 191 -92. The Court reasoned that there is " no question" that " evidence of
the name or nature of the prior offense generally carries a risk of unfair prejudice to the
defendant." We

Old Chief, 519 U.S. at. 185.

relied on

Old

Chief in

State

v.

Johnson, 90 Wn.

App.

54, 950 P. 2d 981 ( 1998). We

held that the trial court abused its discretion when it failed to accept a stipulation that the

defendant had been convicted of a serious offense for the purposes of a first degree unlawful
possession of a firearm charge and instead allowed evidence of the defendant' s prior rape

conviction. Johnson, 90 Wn. App. at 63. We reasoned,

Johnson' s proffered stipulation, along with an appropriate jury instruction, would

have
the
proved

conclusively that Johnson

as

was a

felon. Thus, the probative value of

was negligible.

conviction,

compared

to the

stipulation,

The unfair

VA

No. 42890 -3 -II

prejudice

was

significant,

i.e.,

there was a significant risk that the jury would

declare guilt on the two assault charges based upon an emotional response to the rape conviction rather than make a rational decision based upon the evidence.

Johnson, 90 Wn. App. at 63.

Both Old Chiefand Johnson held that when a defendant offers to stipulate that he
committed a prior offense for the sole purpose of proving legal status, the trial court must accept
the stipulation if the name or nature of the offense raises a risk of a verdict tainted by improper
considerations.

Old

Chief, 519 U.S.

at

191 - 92; Johnson, 90 Wn.

App.

at

63. Garcia' s stipulation

that he had been convicted of a serious offense triggered application of this rule, and precluded

mention that his prior serious offense was for first degree robbery. As a result, there is no

dispute that giving a jury instruction suggesting that Garcia had been convicted of first degree
robbery was an irregularity that was " serious enough to materially affect the outcome of the
trial." Hopson, 113 Wn.2d at 286.

b.

Young Analysis

Division One of this court addressed a similar situation in State v. Young, 129 Wn. App.
468, 119 P. 3d 870 ( 2005).

Young was charged with aggravated first degree murder, first degree
firearm.

assault, and

first degree

unlawful possession of a

Young,

129 Wn.

App.

at

470 -71. As

in this case, the State was required to prove that the defendant had previously been convicted of a
serious offense as one of

the

elements of

the

unlawful possession of a

firearm

charge.

Young,

129 Wn. App. at 474. Young had a previous second degree assault conviction, but the parties
stipulated

that the

nature of

this

prior offense would not

be

presented

to the

jury. Young, 129

Wn. App. at 472. Nevertheless, when reading the charges, the trial court told the jury that the
defendant had been
convicted " ` of a serious offense ...

to

wit:

Second Degree Assault.' "

No. 42890 -3 -II

Young, jury to

129 Wn.

App.

at

471 (

alteration

in

original).

Significantly, the trial court never told the

disregard the disclosure.

Young, 129 Wn. App. at 476.

Division One reversed the trial court' s denial of Young' s mistrial motion, holding that

informing the jury of the assault conviction was " a serious irregularity that is inherently
prejudicial" because that conviction and two of the defendant' s current charges were for violent

offenses. Young, 129 Wn. App. at 476. Applying the reasoning in Old Chiefand Johnson to a
mistrial motion, the court stated,

When the sole purpose of the evidence is to prove the element of the prior

conviction, revealing a defendant' s prior offense is prejudicial in that it raises the

risk that the verdict will be improperly based on considerations of the defendant' s propensity to commit the crime charged. This risk is especially great when the
prior offense is similar to the current charged offense.

No one can seriously dispute that disclosure that an accused has been previously convicted of second degree assault is not a serious irregularity that is
inherently
two
of
assault.
prejudicial.

Here, like the prior conviction for second degree assault,

are also
violent

the

current

charges,

felonies murder and first degree

Young,

129 Wn.

App.

at

475 -76 ( footnotes

omitted).

The court also noted that although the

errors in Old Chief and Johnson related to the admission of evidence and not a statement from
the
court,

there

was no

distinction between the

prejudice engendered

in the two

contexts.

Young,

129 Wn. App. at 476.

c.

Effect of Erroneous Instruction

The facts here are somewhat similar to those in Young. To prove the charge of first
degree unlawful possession of a firearm, the State had to prove that Garcia had been convicted of
a serious offense.

RCW 9. 41. 040( 1)(

a).

Although the parties stipulated that Garcia had been

convicted of a serious offense, the trial court mistakenly instructed the jury that it had to find that
Garcia had been convicted of first degree robbery. The jury was exposed to the erroneous

No. 42890 -3 - II

instruction

on

three

occasions: (

1) when the trial court read the incorrect instruction to the jury,

2) when the trial court provided the jury with incorrect copies of the instruction, and ( 3) when
the State projected the incorrect instruction for the jury to view during closing argument.

Further, two jurors had noted the robbery reference on their copies of the incorrect instruction. However, the irregularity in this case is less serious than that in Young and the cases on
which it relies. Most significantly, there was no direct evidence linking Garcia to the first degree robbery in the incorrect instruction. In Young, the trial court read the charges against the

defendant directly from the information which expressly stated that the defendant had been
convicted of second

degree

assault.

129 Wn.

App.

471.

Similarly, in both Old Chief and

evidence.

Johnson, the trial

court allowed

the

actual convictions

into

Old Chief, 519 U.S. at 177;

Johnson, 90 Wn. App. at 60. In those cases, the jury explicitly was told that the defendant had
been convicted of specific crimes.

By contrast, the improper instruction in this case told the jury that in order to convict
Garcia of first degree unlawful firearm possession, it had to find that he previously had been

convicted of first degree robbery. The instruction did not affirmatively state that Garcia had in
fact been convicted of that crime. And because of the stipulation, the State had not submitted

any evidence that Garcia had been convicted of robbery. The absence of any direct connection
between Garcia and a first degree robbery conviction mitigated the effect of the erroneous
instruction.

Arguably, the instruction did at least imply that Garcia had been convicted of second

degree robbery. But because the instruction did not state that Garcia actually had been convicted
of robbery and there was no evidence provided at trial of any robbery conviction, the jury
reasonably could have believed that the trial court mistakenly included an instruction unrelated
10

to Garcia' s case. This is especially true in light of the trial court' s express instruction telling the
jury that
the
original

instruction

was

the " wrong instruction for this

case."

8 RP at 33.

Garcia emphasizes that one juror placed a star next to " Robbery" and another underlined

Robbery" and placed a question mark next to that portion of the incorrect instruction 20.
However, these marks do not compel a conclusion that this instruction prejudiced the jury. The

jurors simply may have been confused because there had been no evidence or argument
presented at trial indicating that Garcia had been convicted of robbery.
Because there was no direct connection between Garcia and the crime referenced in the

erroneous instruction, we hold that the jury' s exposure to the first degree robbery reference was
less serious than the type of irregularities that trigger a mistrial.
2.

Cumulative Evidence

The second Hopson factor is whether the trial irregularity involved cumulative evidence.
If the
evidence was cumulative, a mistrial

may

not

be necessary. 113 Wn.2d at 284. Here, there

was no evidence other than the erroneously admitted jury instruction that Garcia had been
convicted of first degree robbery. As a result, this factor does not provide meaningful support
for either the trial court' s denial of a mistrial or Garcia' s challenge to that ruling on appeal.
3. Curative Instruction

The third Hopson factor is whether the trial court properly instructed the jury to disregard
the

irregularity.

113 Wn.2d be

at

284. Our Supreme Court has

restated

this factor

as " `

whether the

irregularity
v.

could

cured

by

an

instruction.' "

Perez- Valdez, 172 Wn.2d at 818 ( quoting State

Post, 118 Wn.2d 596, 620, 826 P. 2d 172, 837 P. 2d 599 ( 1992)).

In other words, depending on

the seriousness of the irregularity and whether the information provided to the jury was
cumulative, a proper instruction may or may not be sufficient to avoid a mistrial.
11

No. 42890 -3 - II

The absence of a curative instruction was significant in Young. In that case, the trial

court did not specifically address the unintentional disclosure with the jury and never told the
jury
to disregard the disclosure.

Young, 129 Wn. App. at 476. Instead, the court merely gave a

standard instruction telling the jury not to consider the contents of the information as proof of the crimes charged. Young, 129 Wn. App. at 476 -77. The court found this instruction insufficient,
stating,

While it is presumed that juries follow the instructions of the court, an instruction

that fails to expressly direct the jury to disregard evidence, particularly where, as here, the instruction does not directly address the specific evidence at is

cannot logically be said to remove the prejudicial impression created by

revelation of identical other acts.

Young, 129 Wn. App. at 477. Here, the trial court took immediate steps to remedy the irregularity. After the State brought the improper jury instruction to the trial court' s attention, the trial court removed the

incorrect instruction from the jury' s instruction packets and replaced it with the correct version.
The trial court then reread the correct version of the instruction. Finally, the trial court instructed
the jury:

During closing argument, the Court realized that instruction 20 concerning Count
II, the charge of Unlawful Possession of a Firearm in the First Degree, was the
wrong instruction for this
case.

You have now been given the correct instruction

20 concerning Count II. You should disregard the previous instruction 20.
8 RP
at

33 (

emphasis added).

This instruction was effective. The trial court not only directed

the jury to disregard the incorrect instruction, but also implied that the incorrect instruction did
not even relate to Garcia' s case.

Nevertheless, Garcia argues that the trial court should have specifically referenced first

degree robbery in the curative instruction to disregard. In Young, the appellate court disapproved
12

No. 42890 -3 -II

of a generic instruction to the jury not to consider the information' s contents as proof of the
crimes charged.

129 Wn. App. at 477. The court contrasted the trial court' s deficient curative

instruction in that case with that in Hopson, in which the trial court specifically instructed the

jury to disregard an improper witness statement. Young, 129 Wn. App. at 477 ( citing Hopson,
113 Wn.2d at 284).

We do not interpret Young as requiring a " proper" instruction to specifically mention

details of the prior conviction. In many cases, specifically mentioning the prior conviction

would have the effect of reemphasizing the irregularity and causing more prejudice to the

defendant. In fact, here the parties agreed that specifically telling the jury to disregard the

robbery" portion of the instruction would have drawn unnecessary attention to the error.

Accordingly, we hold that the trial court' s response to the irregularity and the instruction
to disregard it was proper.
C. Consideration
of

Hopson Factors Effect on Verdict

The Hopson factors are designed to guide determination of the ultimate question in the review of the denial of a mistrial motion: whether there is a substantial likelihood that the error

affected the jury' s verdict. Rodriguez, 146 Wn.2d at 269 -70. Application of these factors requires a balancing approach; they cannot be viewed in isolation from each other. The
seriousness of the irregularity (which possibly could be reduced if the evidence was cumulative)
must be weighed against the likelihood that the trial court' s limiting instruction will eliminate
any
prejudice.

As the

court noted

in Hopson, " in certain situations curative instructions cannot

remove

the

prejudicial effect of evidence of other crimes."

113 Wn.2d at 284. On the other

hand, for less serious irregularities a proper instruction may provide an effective cure. We must decide whether, based on the seriousness of the irregularity and whether the information
13

No. 42890 -3 -I1

provided to the jury was cumulative, the irregularity was " so inherently prejudicial that it
rendered

the

curative

instruction ineffective

and necessitated a new

trial."

Perez- Valdez, 172

Wn.2d at 819.

We cannot say that there is a substantial likelihood that the irregularity here affected the

jury' s verdict. As discussed above, the absence of any connection between Garcia and first
degree robbery suggests that the irregularity in this case is on the less serious end of the spectrum
certainly less serious than in Young, Old Chief, and Johnson. And the trial court provided an effective instruction that not only told the jurors to disregard the incorrect instruction but also
encouraged them to believe that the reference to robbery did not even involve Garcia' s case. We

presume that the jury followed the trial court' s instructions. State v Kirkman, 159 Wn.2d 918,
928, 155 P. 3d 125 ( 2007).

We also are cognizant that application of the Hopson factors must occur in the context of
deference to the trial
to
court, who " `

having seen and heard the proceedings, is in a better position

from
a cold, printed record.' "

evaluate and adjudge

than

can we

Perez- Valdez, 172 Wn.2d at

819 ( internal 221 ( 2006)).

quotation marks omitted) (

quoting State v. McKenzie, 157 Wn.2d 44, 52, 134 P.3d

The record here does not support a conclusion that no reasonable judge would have

denied the mistrial motion. Emery, 174 Wn.2d at 765.

Finally,
a
application of

the Hopson factors

means

that

not

every

irregularity
that " `[

in trial even

relatively

serious one triggers a mistrial.

Our Supreme Court has

noted

a] defendant

is

entitled

to

fair trial but

not a perfect one.' "

State v. Davis, 175 Wn.2d 287, 345, 290 P. 3d 43

Brown
v.

2012) ( internal

quotation marks omitted) ( quoting

United States, 411 U. S. 22' ), 231,

93 S. Ct. 1515, 36 L. Ed. 2d 208 ( 1973)), cent. denied, No. 12 -9685, 2013 WL 1490614 ( U.S.

14

No. 42890 -3 -II

Wash. Oct. 7, 2013). 2 Garcia received a fair trial despite the jury' s temporary exposure to the
incorrect instruction.

We hold that exposing the jury to the incorrect instruction was not so serious that the trial court' s instruction could not cure any potential prejudice, and that the trial court' s instruction to
disregard the incorrect instruction was effective in limiting any prejudice to Garcia.

Accordingly, we hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it denied Garcia' s
mistrial motion.

II. "

GANG EVIDENCE"

Garcia argues .that the cumulative effect of the erroneous jury instruction and prejudicial

gang evidence" deprived him of a fair trial and requires reversal. We disagree.
At trial, a tribal police officer testified that the place where Garcia was shot was a
known gang hangout."
7; 6 RP at 63. 1 RP
at

77. Two

other police officers referenced a "

gang

unit."

4 RP at

And during closing argument, the State told the jury that Garcia " pull[ ed] out a
gangster shoot,

gun and

d[ id] the

boom, boom, boom." 8 RP at 9.

Garcia argues that the presentation of gang evidence was highly prejudicial and should
not have been allowed at trial. However, he did not object to any of this testimony or argument

below. Under RAP 2. 5( a), we generally will not review claims raised for the first time on
appeal, unless the party claiming the error can show the presence of an exception to that rule,

such as a manifest error affecting a constitutional right. State v. Robinson, 171 Wn.2d 292, 304,
253 P. 3d 84 ( 2011). '

Garcia asserts only an evidentiary issue related to the admission of gang

evidence and does not assert any constitutional error. See State v. Gresham, 173 Wn.2d 405,
2

J., dissenting) the court' s " task is not to determine whether the defendant received a trial completely free of
See
also

State

v.

Paumier, 176 Wn.2d 29, 44, 288 P. 3d 1126 ( 2012) ( Wiggins,

whether

defects, but to determine

the defendant

received a

fair trial ") (emphasis

omitted).

15

No. 42890 -3 - II

433, 269 P. 3d 207 ( 2012) ( evidentiary

errors under

ER 404( b)

are not constitutional errors).

And

he does not provide argument or legal authority supporting our review on any other ground we
could address

for the first time

on appeal under

RAP 2. 5(

a).

Because Garcia has failed to

preserve this issue for review, we need not consider whether the trial court should have excluded
this evidence.

Further, admission of the gang evidence cannot be the basis for a cumulative error argument. Even where several errors standing alone do not warrant reversal, the cumulative
error doctrine requires reversal when the combined effect of the errors denied the defendant a
fair trial. Davis, 175 Wn.2d
at

345.

Because we hold that Garcia failed to preserve the alleged

error regarding gang evidence, this. doctrine does not apply. See State v. Embry, 171 Wn. App.
714, 766, 287 P. 3d 648 ( 2012) ( failure to preserve claimed errors for appeal precluded

defendant'

s cumulative error claim

based

on alleged unpreserved errors),

review denied, 177

Wn.2d 1005 ( 2013).

III.

APPOINTMENT OF NEW COUNSEL

Garcia argues that " on remand, new counsel should be appointed based on counsel' s

ineffectiveness" for failing to offer to stipulate to the serious offense before trial and for failing to object to the improper jury instruction. Br. of Appellant at 29. Because we do not remand, we
need not address this argument.

16

No42890 3 -II

We affirm Garcia' s convictions.

Maxa, J.

17